


yoisho

by tomorrowsrain



Series: komorebi [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Good Uchiha Obito, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Uchiha Obito Lives, kakashi and obito are missing-nin, life as a traveling shinobi is rarely boring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 01:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14485755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomorrowsrain/pseuds/tomorrowsrain
Summary: “In my defense,” Obito says from his precarious position on a rock in the middle of a wide, rushing river. “I didn’t know about the poisonous fish.”“It’s Swamp Country,” Sasuke grumbles from two rocks over. “Everything’spoisonous.”(Or snapshots of Team 7's year on the road. AU.)





	yoisho

**Author's Note:**

> So I am working on the Chunin Exam Arc, I promise, but until then have more Team 7 traveling together to tide you over, because I love writing all of these idiots. :)
> 
> For anyone who might be new, this is a continuation of kintsukuroi and ikigai, so I strongly recommend reading those first. 
> 
> Enjoy! 
> 
> \- C

 

 **Yoisho (n)** \- _a word without meaning, said when flopping into a chair after a hard day’s work._

 

__ __

 

**wilderness**

“In my defense,” Obito says from his precarious position on a rock in the middle of a wide, rushing river. “I didn’t know about the poisonous fish.”

“It’s _Swamp Country,"_ Sasuke grumbles from two rocks over. “ _Everything’s_ poisonous.”

Naruto, trying to peer into the murky water, pulls back just in time to avoid a leaping fish - its sharp teeth glinting ominously. This abrupt move slams his back against Sasuke’s, nearly pitching both of them into the river.

“ _Dobe_ ,” Sasuke hisses, fisting a hand in the front of Naruto’s shirt.

“Sorry, sorry!” Naruto says, waving his arms placatingly.

“This is still your fault, Obito-sensei,” Sakura snaps, smushed against Kakashi on rock too small for them both. “Why do we keep coming to this fucking country?”

“Language,” Obito says like the hypocrite he is.

For the fifth time in the last hour, Kakashi questions all of his life choices leading up to this point. “Obito,” he says, ice underlying his mild tone, “if you use kamui and leave any of us behind, I’ll kill you in your sleep.”

“Not if I get to him first,” Sasuke mutters.

Another fish takes a flying leap - Sakura jerks her arm out of the way with centimeters to spare between her skin and its teeth.

“Heh, don’t worry,” Obito says, shrinking under the combined glares of the rest of Team 7. “We’ll figure this out.”

“I’ll find a way to push you in if we don’t,” Kakashi says, eye curving in a fake, threatening smile.

“Wait!” Naruto shouts. “I have an idea.” His hands move in a familiar seal.

Sasuke’s eyes widen. “Naruto, don’t you da-”

“ _Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!”

Sasuke shrieks; Obito moves to catch him with a wind technique as he topples backwards off the rock;  Naurto’s clones flood the river - some of them disappearing immediately as the fish start to swarm; Sakura yells at all of them for being reckless idiots; and Kakashi leans out of the way of another ambitious fish with a deep sigh.

Fucking Swamp Country.

 

**discovery**

It takes him a lot longer than it probably should, to realize that Obito and Kakashi are _together._ In his defense, he isn’t good with people. At understanding them or reading them - that’s Naruto and Sakura’s gift. Maybe he would have been, once, if not for…

But his father wasn’t good with people and neither was Itachi, so maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t matter. He figures it out eventually. Mostly because he catches them early one morning, when they think everyone else is still asleep. They’ve spent the night with a generous farmer, in exchange for helping plant several fields and chasing off a group of bandits, and when he steps onto the porch at dawn, Kakashi and Obito are out in the yard. They’re perched side by side on the pasture fence, facing the sunrise with their heads bent together. Sasuke opens his mouth to call out to them, but Obito suddenly leans down and presses a kiss to Kakashi’s clothed shoulder.

 _Oh,_ he thinks, realization hitting hard and fast. He’s not sure how he should feel - that’s his  _cousin,_ and they’re both his sensei and they’re _together._ His brain screeches to a halt before it can spiral into all the definitions of _together,_ but the rest of him feels weirdly empty. His parents were affectionate with each other that way, on rare occasions, and he wonders now, if he’ll ever have that.

Or if he even wants it.

Kakashi slings an arm over Obito’s shoulders and he retreats back inside, closing the shōji as quietly as he can.

 

**provision**

Obito always makes sure Team 7 is well provided for - that they end every day with full stomachs and a safe space to sleep, even if he doesn’t really need those things anymore. He doesn’t have to eat to sustain himself and he requires far less sleep than the average human, only an hour or two a night. He still enjoys the process of sleeping, especially if he can do it with Kakashi’s warmth beside him, and he likes the taste of food - is grateful he didn’t lose that, at least. But he doesn’t _need_ those things, and it can sometimes be easy to forget that others still do, especially growing preteens.

What drives him to remember is Kakashi: fifteen-years-old and too thin, buying a meal with their first paycheck in almost a month. Just a bowl of ramen but Kakashi _devoured_ it - nearly choking himself, he was eating so fast. And Obito hadn’t even been thinking about hungry Kakashi must have been, hadn’t considered the consequences of their inability to hunt due to inhospitable weather, hadn’t noticed the ribs starting to press against Kakashi’s skin.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, then, ashamed.

“It’s okay,” Kakashi insisted, even as he made to sure to get every last drop from his bowl.

Obito still vowed never to make that mistake again. To slow down and consider his more human teammates. So now, when Naruto spots a ramen stand and asks, puppy-faced, if they can stop for lunch, he doesn’t hesitate to say yes - no matter how far behind schedule it might put them.

Naruto’s face lighting up and his shouted “yes! Thank you, Obito-sensei!” is worth it.

 

**conflict**

It’s too easy to fight with Sasuke. Something about the bastard always gets his blood boiling. Okay, not _something,_ a lot of things and he knows what they are: arrogance, condescension, disgust - everything he felt from the village packed into one punchable person. Sasuke speaks in that dry, belittling tone, and Naruto seethes.

It’s a problem, he knows. He isn’t stupid. Just for once in his life, he doesn’t want to be the one to take the high road, okay? In Konoha, he _always_ had to turn the other cheek. Someone threw him out of their store, he could only storm away. A parent snatched their child and fled, he could only stare after them in silence. Anger made it worse - hardened the wariness into open hostility - and pranks were only a tiny patch of gauze over a huge wound. Now, him and Sasuke _should_ be on equal footing, even if Sasuke is an _Uchiha_ and has fancy eyes. Why should he have to be the one to apologize and try to make nice?

“It isn’t fair,” he grumbles to Kakashi one evening while they’re preparing dinner. Sasuke is safely out of earshot across the camp but Naruto still glares daggers at his back. “He looks at me like I’m nothing.”

“Mmm,” Kakashi says, noncommittal. “Stir that a little faster.”

“Kakashi- _sensei,"_ he grumbles, even as he complies. His bastard of a teacher isn’t getting out an emotional talk that easily.

Kakashi sighs in surrender, obviously having reached the same conclusion. “Maa, he’s doing that to protect himself.”

“From _me?_ ” That can’t be right. In Sasuke’s eyes there is dirt and then several layers below that, there is Naruto.

“From his insecurities,” Kakashi explains. “He’s afraid, of not being everything he was expected to be.”

“That’s stupid,” Naruto huffs. You can’t rely on people’s expectations. Everyone expected him to be a monster.

“Is it?” Kakashi asks, mild. “Probably. But it’s going to take him time to learn that.”

Kakashi sounds like he’s speaking from experience, but Naruto’s not sure if he should ask. Sometimes Kakashi and Obito are fine with sharing about their past - even the painful parts of it - and other times Naruto slams headfirst into a closed door.

“So you’re saying I have to be patient,” he says again, dismay starting to creep in. “With _Sasuke.”_

“Maa, I’m afraid so,” Kakashi says, eye curving in that bullshit smile of his. “And now you’re stirring too fast.”

“Bastard,” Naruto grumbles, encompassing Kakashi _and_ Sasuke, still sitting serenely across the clearing.

Patience isn’t his strong suit, but in spite of how _infuriating_ he is, Sasuke’s becoming one of Naruto’s precious people. And that means he’ll try, however long it takes. And if he screws up and punches Sasuke in the face from time to time - well the asshole deserves to be taken down a few pegs.

 

**clay**

There are figurines on sale at a market in Earth Country. They’re all gorgeously exquisite and intricate. Birds in mid-flight, a dragon preparing to attack, a woman in a kimono, clutching a wagasa - each crafted out of clay.

“Wow,” Sakura breathes and she runs her fingers over the woman’s face, rendered in amazingly realistic detail. “These are incredible.”

Obito hums in agreement. “It’s ninjutsu.”

“What? Really?”

He nods, touching the dragon’s tail with his gloved hand. “A clan specializes in it. I’m not sure if it’s a kekkai genkai or just a closely guarded family secret, but they use it to mold the clay in a way that allows them make such realistic sculptures.”

“They almost look alive,” Sakura says, nodding to a galloping horse. She can practically see its chest heaving and its muscles straining.

Obito makes another concurring sound. “It’s a powerful technique. Could be formidable in battle, if its used to lay traps or shape the landscape. But they make art instead.”

“I’m glad,” Sakura says, as light catches on the wings of the bird. It’s nice to know that ninjutsu can be used to create, instead of just destroy.

“Me too,” Obito murmurs, brushing the head of the bird with gentle fingers. “Me too.”

 

**tropical**

Chakra exhaustion. It hasn’t happened in a long time, _years,_ but of course it would strike now, when they’re on a gorgeous tropical island famous for its resorts, beaches, and perfect weather. Literally the nicest place he’s been to in over a decade and he’s stuck in a hospital.

“It’s your fault for overdoing it,” Obito says, because he’s a mind reader (or Kakashi was glaring at the ceiling a little too obviously). “You should know your limits better than that.”

“What was I supposed to do?” Kakashi mumbles. “Let them destroy the whole palace?”

Obito kicks his bare feet up on the bed and crosses his arms. “Or you could have waited for back up.”

“At least I’m not the one that got half my body turned to stone,” Kakashi points out.

Obito glowers like the petulant five-year-old he tries to deny still being. “Okay. I will admit to _slightly_ underestimating them the first time. But I didn’t make the mistake a second time. And look at the little monsters our genin have turned into. I’m so proud.”

“They’re terrifying,” Kakashi agrees, with a deep pride of his own. “And are you going to stay all the way over there?”

“I should,” Obito says, even as he stands up. “As punishment for scaring me.”

“Maa, you worry too much. I know how to handle chakra exhaustion.” Kakashi would lift an arm to pull Obito in, but all of his limbs currently feel like they weigh a hundred pounds.

Obito comes anyway, slotting into his side and tangling their legs together. The bed is technically far too small for two grown men, but they’re used to squeezing into tight spaces - long ago learned the right way to align themselves into the most compact, but comfortable position. Kakashi shifts gratefully closer to Obito’s warmth (hospitals always manage to be a few degrees from freezing, even in the tropics) and sighs at the arm Obito curls around his waist.

(It’s been weeks since they got to sleep like this. While neither of them really care about Team 7 finding out the extent of their relationship, they’ve still silently agreed to be more discreet - not wanting to stir up potential drama.)

“At least we get some peace and quiet,” Obito murmurs, face smushed into Kakashi’s neck. “Even if I’d rather be having it on the beach.”

“Mm,” Kakashi agrees. “And the brats are having fun.”

“Maybe this way they’ll stop complaining about a vacation.”

“We’re going to have to drag them away from here screaming.”

“Probably,” Obito agrees, with an edge of dark glee. “But for now, _sleep,_ Bakakashi.”

“Fine, fine,” Kakashi mumbles and is gone less than a minute later, missing the affectionate, amused kiss Obito presses to his temple.

**grudge**

He doesn’t hate Konoha, or the Uchiha, regardless of what Sasuke tends to think. How can he? They mattered once, to him - to the boy that he was. He wore the Uchiha fan emblazoned on the back of all his shirts and he bragged to anyone who would listen that he was going to be Hokage someday. He _wanted_ to belong, even as the clan continued to reject him, and his peers in the village looked down on him. In many ways, he sees himself in Naruto - right down to the penchant for orange.

But war takes so many things from you, and it was especially unkind to him. He lost his eye and half of his body and any hope of being human again. And then he lost Rin and his free will and nearly destroyed the very village he’d once loved so deeply. You can’t walk away unscathed from that.

He isn’t that boy anymore. He sees Konoha for what it is - jarring flaws and all. He sees the Uchiha for what they were - suspects, though he would never tell Sasuke, that they had a hand in their own downfall. He’s seen the ugly side of hidden village politics, the innocent blood that always gets shed, and he no longer regrets his exile. There were always be guilt: for Rin, for Minato-sensei and Kushina, for the Kyuubi and the lives lost and a boy who grew up alone as a result. But he doesn’t _hate_ Konoha.

He just never wants to go back.

 

**lover**

“Oi!”

Kakashi looks up from his book to the angry brat standing above him, silhouetted against the afternoon sun. He’s got his hands on his hips in a gesture that is adorably reminiscent of Obito, but he’s also interrupting one of best passages in the whole _Ich Icha_ series, so Kakashi is more annoyed than amused.

“What?” he asks, figuring that if Naruto bothered to climb all the way up here it must be important.

“Why didn’t you tell me about you and Obito-sensei?”

Ah. The last one has finally caught on. Well, Kakashi is still annoyed - this doesn’t classify as nearly important enough to disrupt the first peace and quiet he’s had in a week - so he isn’t about to make this easy. “What about us?”

Naruto huffs. His face is still mostly wreathed in shadow, but Kakashi suspects, with no small amount of glee, that he’s blushing. “You know.”

“No,” Kakashi says blandly. “I don’t.”

“That you’re together!”

“Mmm? Yes, of course we are. We’ve been teammates for-”

“No,” Naruto interrupts, sounding deeply pained.

“Then I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“C’mon, Kakashi-sensei, you _do_!”

“Maa, no idea. Can I go back to my book?”

“Sakura-chansaidyou’reacouple,” Naruto blurts in one almost indecipherable torrent - hands twitching like he wants to cover his face.

“Oh!” Kakashi says with false surprise. “You mean together like _lovers.”_

“Gah, don’t use _that_ word,” Naruto groans.

“Maa, but it’s what we are.”

Naruto shakes his head frantically. “No, stop! I’m sorry I asked.”

Kakashi narrows his eye, setting his book down. Makes his voice purposefully cold as he asks, “do you have a problem with that, Naruto?”

Naruto lets out a high-pitched squeak of terror. “No! No! You guys are great and I’m happy for you but you’re my _sensei_ and I don’t need any more details. None! _Ever!_ ”

“You’re the one who asked,” Kakashi points out, carefully keeping his amused smile from showing through his mask.

“And I’m _never_ going to ask again,” Naruto says, insistent. “Ja ne.”

And then he’s gone, practically sprinting down the tree. Kakashi leans his head against the bark and laughs.

 

**page**

There are many things she loves about traveling so extensively: the varying cultures and traditions of different countries, the breathtaking landscapes, the new food, even the feel of always going forward - always moving to something else. But her favorite, she thinks, are the scrolls she picks up. Weathered ones on continental history, crammed into the back of a rundown weapons shop in Fang; fresh, crisp ones full of ninjutsu techniques from Iwa, being hawked by a traveling merchant they meet on the side of the road; well-loved ones loaned to her by a kindly grandmother in Tea, detailing the local mythology; a stained one shoved her hands by a girl in a village ransacked by bandits, containing a story the girl’s mother once read to her that she’s desperate to hear again.

They’re diverse and fascinating, both the cherished and the forgotten ones, and she finds herself starting something of an exchange business. She’ll carry scrolls and books with her from village to village, memorizing them along the way, and then trade them for new ones in markets and shops, repeating the process over again. She’s seen Kakashi conducting similar deals to maintain his own makeshift library (suspects that if he lived in an apartment it would be full of books), and occasionally he’ll pick up something interesting for her that she misses.

But her other teammates start to notice her reading habit, as well.

“Here,” Sasuke says to her in Bird, holding up a scroll on fūinjutsu, “I thought you’d like this.”

She tries to hide her surprise as she takes it from him, but doesn’t bother masking her pleased smile. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun!”

He nods, cheeks actually looking a little flushed, and stalks away before she can say anything else.

Two weeks and five villages later, Naruto dumps several scrolls in her lap one evening. “Here, Sakura-chan! An old man was selling these and they look really boring, but you’d probably like them.”

She unrolls the first one and finds a dark fairytale, written in faded ink on a weathered page. Grins up at Naruto. “They’re perfect, thank you.”

He shoves his hands his pockets, blushing much harder than Sasuke, and scuffs his shoe in the dirt. “Ah, it’s nothing, Sakura-chan.”

On a whim, Sakura unrolls the scroll further. “Want to hear some?”

His face lights up and he sits down across from her. “Sure!”

Ten minutes later, her audience has expanded to include the rest of the camp - even Kakashi, making dinner by the fire, seems to be listening intently as she brings to life a story about murder, revenge, and wandering ghosts.

It makes her feel powerful, in a way, knowing that they’re interested in her words, knowing that they care about the stories she loves and her passion for learning. She vows, in this moment, never to be ashamed of her bookworm tendencies again.

 

**reckless**

“I don’t understand why he’s mad at me,” Sasuke gripes to Kakashi. They’re fishing in a river close to camp, avoiding the thunderstorm still crackling the air around Obito.

“Because he cares about you,” Kakashi says, dumping another fish into their basket. He’s caught ten to Sasuke’s one and it’s infuriating.

“I knew what I was doing.” He _isn’t_ some child to be protected, especially from something as mundane as _bandits._ He’s an Uchiha, in possession of one of the strongest kekkai genkai in the world. Nothing bad was going to happen, and yet Obito…

“Did you?” Kakashi asks in that perpetually mild tone that always gets under Sasuke’s skin.

“ _Yes._ ”

“Hmm, didn’t look like it.”

“They weren’t even a _threat.”_

“So you almost getting crushed with an earth jutsu was part of the plan, then?”

Sasuke glowers at him, wishing not for the first time that it was possible to use the Sharingan to kill someone just by looking at them. His life would be so much more peaceful, if that were the case. Instead, Kakashi just sighs in response, completely unaffected.

“Don’t be so reckless, brat,” he says, and forms a seal. The river moves, shifting into a stream of water that blasts Sasuke straight in the face. He yelps and flails, trying to maintain his balance, but it’s futile. He gets a mouthful of water as he goes under, back slamming into the riverbed from the force of the just. The pressure eases almost immediately after that, but it still takes him a precious moment to get his bearings back.

When he emerges, spluttering and furious, Kakashi’s eye curves in a smile. “No matter how strong you get, there’s always someone stronger.”

“Always?” Sasuke asks, disbelieving. He has yet to see anyone land a hit on Obito in combat.

Kakashi’s gaze darkens and his voice turns solemn and cold. “Always.”

A shiver runs down Sasuke’s spine. He stubbornly ignores it. Fear never got him anywhere - only alone, surrounded by the bodies of his family, and too weak to fight a monster wearing his brother’s skin.

 

**brick**

Naruto didn’t think he’d have the patience for it, but he likes construction. Missions where he gets to build, work with his hands, and see the final result of his labor: a new house, or bridge, or road.

They spend a week on the coast, repairing seawalls to keep villages safe from the summer storms that always stir the ocean into something dangerous and wild. “Watatsumi,” a woman tells them as she passes out lunch one afternoon, “upset about something.”

It’s summer and the air is thick enough to feel in your lungs, laced with salt from the sea. Every day, he wakes before dawn and eats breakfast on the way down to the water with the rest of Team 7, most of the men, and quite a few women, from the three villages connected to this stretch of coast. They lay stones until early afternoon - Kakashi and Obito using earth jutsu to shape land into supporting the walls - and then break for lunch and a rest.

“It’s beautiful here,” Sasuke says on their third day, sitting next to him with their aching legs in the surf.

“Yeah,” Naruto agrees, ignoring the fact that this is the most peaceful conversation they’ve had in weeks. “I almost like it better than Konoha.”

He’d never seen the ocean before Wave Country, and it’s vastness still overwhelms him sometimes. The stories the villagers tell, about waves that once stretched thirty feet high and nearly wiped everything away in one blow. It’s a reminder, he thinks, that no matter how powerful they get, they’ll still be puny to the gods - to the earth itself.

“Me too,” Sasuke says and flops onto his back in the sand.

Naruto grins at the casual move - something the Sasuke of before would never have allowed - and mirrors him with a long sigh. “My arms are about to fall off, though.”

Sasuke grunts. “And they want help repairing bricks on the shrine steps, too.”

“Guess we’re gonna be here another week,” Naruto says, and finds that he doesn’t mind. The villagers are friendly, for the most part, and the work is both exhausting and rewarding. Besides, he’d rather build walls than suffer through another round of Obito-sensei’s sadistic training any day.

“Guess so,” Sasuke says and doesn’t sound disappointed, either.

 

**orange**

It’s weird sometimes, seeing Naruto without his distinctive orange. (Or at least, with so much _less_ of it than before.) She’s almost come to associate the color with him and nothing else - so used to seeing flashes of it around Konoha and in the back of class. Sometimes, all she could picture when she thought about Naruto was orange, instead of his face. Since she’s always considered it to be an annoyingly obnoxious color, the association fit. Now, Naruto almost looks wrong in blacks and greens - even if his yellow hair is still a beacon in and of itself.

“Why’d you ditch the orange?” she asks him one day, on one of their rare breaks. They decided to explore a nearby village together (something the Sakura from Before would have screamed at the idea of) and wound up lounging on a rooftop, soaking up the summer sun.

He shrugs. “Why’d you lose the red?”

Huh. That’s a question she actually hasn’t considered much. Some of her shirts are still red, but she wears it much less than she used to. “Too distinctive.” Though she doesn’t think that’s the right answer, even as she says it.

Naruto’s look says that he can see right through her, anyway.

She shrugs. “I guess I wanted to start over. Let go of who I was in Konoha.”

“Me too,” he says, pressing a hand against his stomach. For a brief moment, something she can’t define passes over his face, then he grins at her, bright as always. “And it was _way_ too distinctive. I got tired of Obito-sensei saying he could see me from a mile away. Even he’s not _that_ good, but _still._ ”

He used to say that about her red dress, too, and she grimaces. “Remember that lecture he gave? After our first training session?”

Naruto laughs. “Yeah.” His voice drops into his usual impression of Obito-sensei and he puts his hands on his hips for emphasis. “‘You brats have to _earn_ the right to dress like damn walking beacons. If you’re going to show every enemy within ten fucking miles right where you are, you’d better be able to fight them all off, or you’re going to get killed. And I’ll laugh.’”

It’s almost word for word what Obito said, and she collapses into a fit of giggles as soon as Naruto’s finished. “Yes, that!”

Naruto shakes his head. “And stupid Sasuke sat there the whole time smirking.”

“Uh-huh. First time I ever wanted to punch him.”

First time of many, honestly, and Naruto gives her another sly, knowing look. “At least you punch _both_ of us now, Sakura-chan, instead of just me.”

She hits him in the arm, just enough for him to sway sideways and frown at her in mock hurt. “Well you both deserve it.”

“Sakura- _chan,”_ he whines, but he’s smiling and he drops the act quickly. “I kinda miss the orange sometimes, though.”

“Well, once we’ve ‘earned the right’ we can dress up and kick Obito-sensei’s ass.”

Naruto smirks at her, eyes sparkling with familiar mischief and holds out his hand. “Deal.”

They shake on it.

 

**measure**

Obito’s life has taken many unexpected turns: Kannabi Bridge, _Rin,_ the Kyuubi, exile, Kakashi, and now these three.

He worries, often, that he isn’t a good teacher. He has none of Minato’s patience or calm steadiness; Kushina and Kakashi’s knack for breaking down complex jutsu and theories and making them easy for even the most clueless of genin to understand. He’s a murderer, by most definitions, and a missing-nin, and before that he was just a failure. He scraped through the Academy and the Chūnin Exams by the skin of his teeth - survived the war by a miracle after that. Right up until his “heroic” sacrifice.

He has no idea what he’s doing, on a good day. Watches Sasuke and Naruto bicker and struggles to figure out how to get them to stop besides invoking as much fear as possible. Watches Sakura’s homesickness and struggles to figure out what to say. He used to be good with people, he thinks, a long time ago - though maybe that’s a lie he tells himself. Now, there are too many broken pieces inside of him, too many jagged edges that can cut you open if you get too close. He’s still angry, a lot of days, at the state of the world; still wonders, on his darkest ones, what it would have been like to accept Madara’s offer.

He’s probably going to march these brats right off a cliff into madness and what was Sandaime _thinking,_ handing them over without -

Knuckles rap the top of his head and he jolts out of his thoughts, looking up at Kakashi perched on the branch above him.

“Stop it,” Kakashi says, eye narrowed.

“Stop what?”

“ _T_ _hinking._ You’re bad at it. _”_

He splutters. “Oi, what the hell is that supposed to mean, Bakaka-”

“You’ll never be Minato-sensei,” Kakashi cuts in quietly. Obito snaps his mouth closed. “So stop comparing yourself to him. Besides, he wasn’t perfect, either. He thought too much of me and too little of the rivalry between us.”

He casts around for a counterargument to that, but can’t find one. Remembers, as a teenager, so often wondering why Minato-sensei didn’t notice how much of an arrogant jerk Kakashi was - didn’t lift a finger to mend the steadily-expanding rift between them.

“I-”

Kakashi drops down to sit next to him, elbowing him in the side. “You’re a good teacher, Obito.” He nods to the sleeping lumps below them. “You’re good for them.”

“You really think so?” Obito asks, unable to keep from voicing his doubts.

Kakashi shoots him a flat look. “Have I ever lied to you?”

“Well-” There are several instances from when they were Team Yellow Flash coming to mind - like the time Kakashi told him the cat they were chasing was perfectly harmless.

“Since we’ve been together, have I ever lied to you?” Kakashi amends with a roll of his eye.

“No,” he grumbles.

“So stop thinking, baka. We’re fine.”

He wants to believe it, but there’s too much blood still. On his hands and bones and marring his dreams.

For now, he decides, he’ll just have to let Kakashi believe it for him.

**separate**

“This is the most ridiculous mission we’ve ever been on,” Sakura mutters, listening to the raised voices from inside the meeting room. It’s been four days of negotiations with no sign of a resolution.

“Seriously,” Naruto grumbles. “If they hate each other this much, they should just form separate clans.”

“It’s not always that easy,” Sasuke says.

A loud crash from inside the room - like a chair being thrown against a wall, which is what it was the last five times.

“Why is it _our_ problem, though?” Naruto asks. “They should just hire a hidden village!”

“They’re cheapskates,” Sakura says. “They thought they could save money by hiring us.”

“Hn,” Sasuke huffs. “They’ll regret that.”

Naruto’s grin is feral. “Ha, Kakashi-sensei and Obito-sensei are gonna charge so much for this nonsense.”

Another crash. More shouting. The door opens and Kakashi slips out, looking like he’s just been through a war. “We’re calling a recess,” he informs them. From behind him, through the doorway, Sakura sees the two rival clan factions pinned to opposite walls of the room with what looks like mud and Obito standing between them, radiating terrifying fury. “You three should go get lunch.”

“Thank god,” Naruto says and bolts immediately, Sasuke right on his heels.

Sakura pauses, though, because she’s a good teammate. (Or tries to be.) “Want us to bring you anything, sensei?”

“Sake,” Kakashi grumbles under his breath, then shakes his head and says, louder, “anything’s fine. Thank you, Sakura.”

“Okay,” Sakura says and wonders if anyone will sell sake to a thirteen-year-old.

Maybe if she pulls the shinobi card?

 

**courage**

_This is bad,_ Kakashi thinks, a little fuzzy. He’s still bleeding from his rather brutal impact with the side of a cliff and he’s pretty sure most of his ribs are broken. Fuck, he _really_ hates Iwa missing-nin. If it isn’t bombs, it’s moving mountains or landslides or yawning sinkholes. His injuries aren’t his first priority right now, though. He’s survived worse, but he did that on his own - not in charge of an equally wounded Naruto.

 _Stupid, they got the drop on us._ Him and Obito had maybe gotten overconfident again, thinking that no one would try to collect the sizeable bounty on their heads because of insistent flee-on-sight orders. But missing-nin operate outside those rules, and most of them - at least the high-ranked ones - are crazy enough not to be afraid of warnings in Bingo Books. So they’d been taken by surprise while traversing a canyon on the border of Earth and now - a huge rock slide, then a quick but ineffective fight later - here they are.

“I think they’re coming back,” Naruto whispers, crouching at the entrance of the shallow cave they’ve managed to conceal themselves in. He’s shaking, Kakashi notices, but he’s got a kunai clutched in one hand and a determined expression on his bloody face.

“You need to go,” Kakashi says with a cough. “Now. Find Obito and the others, or head for the nearest village. You’re not their target.”

Plus, at least two of them are S-ranked and Naruto frankly doesn’t stand a chance, no matter how far he’s come since he and the rest of Team 7 took on Zabuza.

“Not happening,” Naruto insists.

“Naruto-”

“I’m not leaving you behind!” Naruto twists to glare at him, teeth bared. “You said it yourself, sensei. Those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. You can’t tell me that and then not expect me to follow your teachings!”

 _This is different,_ Kakashi wants to say, but it isn’t. Of course it isn’t, and he thinks ruefully of Obito punching him in the face in Grass Country.

“All right, then,” he says and takes a deep breath, summoning chakra from his dwindling reserves. He has enough left to at least make it hard for the enemy to take him out. As his hand glows green, he presses it to his side, gritting his teeth as his ribs start to mend. He doesn’t have enough skill to fix them completely, but he can get them from broken to cracked, at least. “We’re going to have to fight.”

Naruto nods, for once completely serious. Kakashi blinks open his left eye and unsheathes his katana.

“Remember what I taught you.”

“Earth is weak against Lightning,” Naruto fires back immediately. Then grumbles, “I bet Sasuke is having fun.”

Kakashi highly doubts that, but doesn’t have the energy to argue. “Right. So let me take the lead. Use your kage bunshin to distract them and lay traps if you can. You have more chakra than me and Wind can be decent against Earth if you put enough power into it, so don’t be afraid to use the ninjutsu I’ve been teaching you, even if they’re not perfect yet.”

Naruto nods again and squares his shoulders. “Got it, sensei. Let’s go kick their asses.” He looks terrified and brave all at once, and Kakashi is achingly proud. Hopes desperately he isn’t about to get the kid killed.

“Yeah,” he says, squeezeing Naruto’s shoulder as chakra flares from outside the cave, violent and powerful. “Let’s.”

 

**rule**

_Thank God,_ is Obito’s first thought when he manages to find Kakashi and Naruto and sees their chests rising and falling - the bodies of the missing-nin around them. It’s been nearly six heart-stopping hours, trying to find a way through the rock slide and battling their own enemies. He almost feels guilty for not having a scratch on him when Sakura and Sasuke are sporting their own injuries, even though he has no control over the nature of his Sharingan.

“How are they?” he asks Sakura as she kneels in front of them, hands already glowing. Her skill is nowhere near the level of Rin’s yet, but she at least should be able to tell how close they are to dying.

“Stable,” she says and Sasuke makes a relieved sound under his breath. “But not great.”

Which is obvious from looking at them - slumped next to each other against the canyon wall, partially shielded by the underbrush and a large boulder; covered in blood, Kakashi’s hand still gripping his katana, and Naruto’s head resting against his shoulder.

Naruto cracks open an eye in response to Sakura’s voice and smiles. “Hey … Sakura-chan.”

“Don’t talk, baka,” she snaps. Then, to Obito and Sasuke. “We need to get them to a hospital.”

Obito’s already moving to slide his hand into Naruto’s and warp him. Naruto tugs his hand away, though, and nods to Kakashi. “Kakashi-sensei … first, okay?”

 _Idiot kid,_ Obito thinks around the lump in his throat and gathers Kakashi into his arms instead. Lays him down gently on the Kamui dimension’s pillars a few seconds later, pausing to brush Kakashi’s silver bangs from his forehead.

“Don’t die on me, remember?”

No response, as expected. Bastard.

Naruto is next and he smiles again when Obito sets him beside Kakashi. “Don’t be mad … Obito-sensei.”

“I’m not mad,” Obito lies.

“Your fault, anyway.”

A knife stabs straight into Obito’s gut. “W-what?”

Naruto clumsily pats his arm. “You know … those who follows the rules are trash….”

Obito laughs, wet with unshed tears and a mixture of pride and relief. “Yeah, well, I didn’t expect you take it to heart _this_ much, kid.”

Naruto huffs, offended, and passes out again. Obito lets out a long breath and goes to retrieve the rest of his team.

 

**comfort**

Sasuke is still getting used to having people in his life - ones that matter to him, that he worries about, that he can lean on, and that look to him for support and comfort in turn. He still doesn’t think he’s very good at it, either, even though he acknowledges that he’s learning. Growing and maturing, and all that crap.

He is honest with himself enough to know that eight months ago, he wouldn’t be here: perched on Naruto’s hospital bed (they spend far too much time in hospitals, he thinks, and wonders if that’s normal for other genin teams - for shinobi in general) with Naruto’s head on his shoulder and Sakura’s hand resting on his stomach - her arm stretched across Naruto to reach him, too. They’re so _touchy,_ his teammates. So openly affectionate that it’s baffling. Even Obito is a far cry from a normal Uchiha in this respect. (Almost every respect, actually. Kakashi is far more Uchiha in temperament than Obito will ever be.)

He minds less than he wants to. Has already shifted to rest his cheek in Naruto’s hair and twine his fingers with Sakura’s. For now, he’ll blame it on the fact that he almost lost them today - that they came out of the fight with the Iwa missing-nin by the skin of their teeth - and his heart still hasn’t completely slowed down. The terror is leeching away, but slowly, and there is a litany still echoing in the back of his mind: _no one else, please no one else, please don't let me lose anyone else…_

 _It’s a weakness_ , the echoes of his clan and Itachi insist. _It’s a strength,_ Obito and Kakashi counter. Bonds that build you up, give you courage, make you better.

He knows which side is right, but still struggles to let go of the pieces that cling to the past. For now, he focuses on the even cycle of Naruto and Sakura’s breathing. Reminds himself that they’re all alive and he has time. He isn’t running out of it anymore.

Sakura squeezes his hand, a silent urge for him to go to sleep - like she can hear him brooding from the other side of the bed. He hides his smile in Naruto’s hair and squeezes back.

 

**reputation**

Sometimes, she forgets just how dangerous Kakashi-sensei and Obito-sensei are. In her defense, this is easy to do when one of them is a lazy, porn-reading bastard and the other one purposefully acts like an obnoxious idiot during half of their training sessions. Neither of them scare her, for the most part - especially now that she seems them more as annoying family members than anything else. Sure, she looks up to them, but she also wants to punch them on an almost daily basis.

So when reminders do come, they always take her by surprise. Like right now, tied up in the hideout of some bandits. She’s furious at herself for getting caught - it was a rookie mistake and she _isn’t_ a rookie after over nine months on the road - but she’s got still got a senbon needle up her sleeve that they missed, and she’s hoping she can maneuver it to pick the lock on the cuffs they’ve slapped over her wrists. She’s in the middle of attempting this, actually, when the furious whispering starts.

“ _What?_ You took the brat from _Uchiha Obito_ and _Hatake Kakashi?_ Are you _insane?”_

“I didn’t know she was with them! Not until later, I swear.”

“You _idiot._ They’re going to _murder_ us!”

“I didn’t think the rumors were true, okay? About them picking up those war orphans. I mean, why would missing-nin like them care about a bunch of brats?”

“Well apparently they _were_ true, you moron! _Fuck._ ”

“What do we do?”

Footsteps as someone re-enters the cave and marches up to her. She quickly hides the senbon needle again as one of the bandits leans down and swiftly unlocks the cuffs. “You’re free to go,” he says when she gapes up at him. “Please tell Uchiha-san and Hatake-san that we’re very sorry and to let us go in peace.”

Seriously?

She _is_ tempted to beat them up - both to restore her damaged pride and because they’re, well, _bandits_. But she also overheard them talking about families early, trying to put food on their tables. They aren’t bad men, she decides - didn’t hurt her when they could have and probably undeserving of Obito-sensei and Kakashi-sensei’s wrath.

“Fine,” she says, standing up as tall as possible and crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re free to go. Just pick better targets to rob next time, instead of innocent villagers. And no more hostages, got it?”

They all nod, even the ones not included in the original argument. Apparently news about her association with the Ghost and the Wolf has spread like wildfire through the small camp and now everyone is terrified. In fact, the camp empties faster than she thought possible, leaving her suddenly alone in the middle of the cave, wondering if she’s dreaming.

When she steps out into the winter sunlight, it takes her a moment to get her bearings. They’re somewhere in Forest Country right now, and though the bandits knocked her unconscious, she doesn’t think they took her far. If she keeps going west, she should reach the river and a village within a few hours.

She’s about to do just that when a dark blur shoots out out of the trees and morphs into Kakashi-sensei, katana drawn and practically crackling with lightning.

He freezes when he sees her, blinking in slow surprise at the apparently empty cave behind her and the scattered supplies left behind.

“Sakura … what happened?”

Sakura shrugs. “They changed their minds.”

Kakashi cocks his head in confusion. “What?”

“Well, actually I think it was more running for their lives. You’re scary, sensei. Apparently.”

Which is a total understatement, she realizes. To the average bandit, Kakashi and Obito are probably more akin to nightmares come to life.

Kakashi snorts in amusement. “Apparently.”

He raises a hand to his ear and speaks into the shortwave radio she now realizes is attached to his neck. “I found her. She’s okay. We’re heading back now.”

Obito’s voice crackles through, too low for her to hear what he’s saying. “Hmm, no,” Kakashi replies, glancing around the abandoned camp again. “They escaped.”

Another crackle, probably Obito swearing, and then Kakashi signs off with another amused huff. “Right then.” He returns his katana to its sheath on his back. “Shall we?”

Still wondering if she’s dreaming, she follows him into the trees.

 

**thread**

In one of the villages they visit, there is a elderly woman who spends her days at the shrine, weaving colorful braided cords that she calls kumihimo. Naruto sits with her for a whole day, following her instructions to make a cord of his own. Time seems elastic there, in the shade of the trees, listening to her stories. She tells him about the kami that occupies the shrine - how he watches over the village and the town and the earth around him.

“These threads,” she says in her croaking, rasping voice, “are a way of summoning him. They represent connection. We’re all connected, through time and space and distance. Tied to the gods and each other.”

“All of us?” he asks.

She ties one of the cords around his wrist, a fiery red that reminds him of Sakura. “All of us.”

It’s a nice thought, he decides. Invisible strings tying them all together - all these villages and countries, all full of people with hopes and fears and dreams. He’s traveled the continent and back now, seen so many different cultures and customs and walks of life that he has trouble separating them from the jumble they’ve become in his mind. But it’s the village he left behind that he thinks about now, running his fingers over the cord. Konoha, with the Academy and Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji; with Shikamaru and Chouji who would sometimes sit with him, in spite of warnings from their parents. There are terrible memories there - and triumphant ones - and he misses it less if he imagines that he’s still tied to it, still carrying a piece of it with him.

“Baa-chan,” he says, “can I have a few more cords?”

She smiles knowingly at him and gives him four more, all red. “Here, child.”

He thanks her and pays his respects at the shrine before making the return journey to the local inn, the setting sun warm against his back.

His team are all seated around the communal table in their large, shared room, and greet him with a mixture of curiosity and warmth as he steps through the door.

“You spent all day weaving cords with an old lady?” Sakura asks in disbelief when he explains where he’s been.

“She was really cool!” he insists defensively. “She had all kinds of stories. And she gave me these.” He passes out the cords. “They represent connection. How we’re all tied to each other, even across time and space. She had another name for it, but I can’t remember...”

“Hmm,” Kakashi murmurs, examining the cord. “Musubi.”

Naruto blinks at him. “You know?”

Kakashi shrugs and takes Obito’s cord. “It means knot, a tying together of things.” He demonstrates with the two cords. “It represents the proliferation of life and spirit, the flow of time. It’s tied to a lot of creation myths and love, as well. The red thread of fate, connecting people who are meant to be together.”

“Do you believe in that, sensei?” Sakura asks.

Kakashi unwinds the cords and hands Obito's back with another shrug. “Maa, not really.”

“But it’s a nice thought,” Naruto points out. A kind of hope, really - that there is something stronger than violence to bind them together. 

“Yes,” Obito agrees, tying his kumihimo around his wrist in a mirror of Naruto’s. “It is.”

 

**delicate**

_Fuck,_ but Obito’s missed this: the feel of Kakashi’s skin beneath his hands and mouth, the bitten-off sounds of Kakashi’s pleasure in his ear, the rough slide of Kakashi’s fingers down his sides and hips. Two months is a _criminally_ long time to go without and he says so - murmurs it into Kakashi’s neck.

Kakashi huffs at him, managing to sound superior even though Obito’s got him pinned to the wall of their room with hands on his wrists and a leg between his thighs. “It’s not like we - _ah -_ had a wild sex life before.”

“Still more often than _two months,”_ Obito argues, backing up with a scrape of teeth against Kakashi’s shoulder.

“Having kids will do that.”

“Shh, I don’t want to think about the brats right now.”

Kakashi’s face screws up. “Me neither. Kiss me some more.”

“So demanding,” Obito teases, but shifts up so that he can lick into the heat of Kakashi’s mouth. Kakashi groans into the kiss, but doesn’t push against the hold Obito’s got on him - so wonderfully pliant.

Obito loves him so much, continues to be awed by everything Kakashi gives him. It felt delicate, in the beginning, and terrifying - both of them fumbling into a sexual and romantic relationship without any guidebook or even remote idea of what they were doing. Obito was afraid of breaking Kakashi, for all that he knew Kakashi was strong - so, _so_ afraid of hurting him in ways that would be far more permanent than an argument or a spar.

“ _I trust you,”_ Kakashi told him once, letting Obito push him down, ceding up control. “ _I trust you.”_

 _I don’t,_ Obito had thought back then, but he’s steady now. They’ve built this foundation, stone by careful stone, and tonight he doesn’t hesitate to shift closer, tighten his grip on Kakashi’s wrists and move his knee up a little higher so that it’s a firm pressure against Kakashi’s still-clothed groin. Kakashi moans again, the sound a physical thing against Obito’s tongue, and rocks his hips to get more friction.

“C’mon,” he pants when Obito breaks the kiss, “take me to bed.”

Obito lets go of his wrists so that he can run his fingers through Kakashi’s already messy hair, down his exposed cheeks and jaw. “Can I - will you let me fuck you?” he asks softly. From the beginning, he’s made sure to never presume this is automatically on offer.

Tonight, though, Kakashi smiles and leans into his touch. “Yes. Please.”

Obito returns the smile, feeling it stretch the scars on the right side of his face, and takes Kakashi’s hands in his own, guiding him towards the futon - joy and love sparking in his chest.

 

**blade**

“Again,” Kakashi says, reaching over to adjust Sasuke’s stance and grip on the katana. They haven’t had a chance to pick him up one of his own yet, so he’s training with Kakashi’s for the time being. Which he will grudgingly admit is a little too unwieldy for him, especially considering his current short stature.

He moves through the parry Kakashi showed him and tries to hide his excitement when Kakashi nods in approval. Kakashi can be a lot harder to please than Obito - more sparing with his compliments - but that just lends an extra weight to success during sessions with him.

“Again,” Kakashi says. “A little faster this time.”

He complies, listening rush of the air as the blade cuts through it. He never would have considered kenjutsu in Konoha but it feels natural, and he’s excited for the day he gets to choose his own katana - craft his own set of seals into the hilt.

“Good,” Kakashi says with a nod and adjusts his stance slightly. “Again.”

 

**infinite**

In parts of Wind Country, it feels like the sky goes on forever - nothing but flat, brown earth and blue overhead. At night, even the stars seem closer, shine brighter, and she spends one night picking out all the constellations that she knows. Obito and Kakashi fill in some of the gaps in her knowledge.

“Oi, sensei,” Naruto asks, sprawled out on his back next to her, “does anyone know what’s out there?”

“No,” Obito answers. “Just stars.”

“What about other planets? Like ours?” Sakura asks, trying to remember what she studied in the Academy.

“There could be,” Kakashi says with a shrug. “Statistically, it’s highly unlikely that we’re the only planet in existence.”

“Whoa! Do you think there’s _life_ on the other planets?”

“Again, it’s possible.” Kakashi cranes his head back, squinting up at the sky. “It’s a big universe, after all.”

“How big?” Sasuke asks.

“Infinite,” Obito says. “Beyond our comprehension.”

 _"_ Amazing,” Naruto murmurs.

Sakura focuses back on the stars - nothing more than pinpricks of light in a black expanse. She wonders what they look like up close. Probably _huge,_ if they can be seen from so far away. Probably, compared to them, she’s nothing more than a speck. An ant in a universe full of giants.

It’s not as scary a notion as she thought it would be.

 

**private**

The brats are scheming.

The hilariousness of it is that they think they’re being subtle, but Obito can seem them coming a mile (or ten) away. They’ve had a week of down time between missions and out of boredom, Team 7 have turned to their favorite pastime: discovering what’s under Kakashi’s mask.

He has to give them points for inventiveness so far, even if all of their twenty-seven attempts have failed spectacularly (again back to the lack of subtlety), and he’s always eager to see what they come up with next. Kakashi tolerates it with the quiet weariness of the resigned (though Obito's pretty sure he enjoys toying with the unsuspecting brats because Kakashi is secretly a sadistic bastard).

This time, they’ve decided to try pestering him for the fifteenth time. He really hopes they come up with a better bribe than last month’s—this is a good book and they’re distracting him from it. Kakashi is lounging in a nearby tree with a scroll, pretending not to be listening.

“C’mon, Obito-sensei, just tell us!” Naruto exclaims, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Honestly, after over six months of this, they should know better by now.

“No,” he says, turning a page in his book.

“We’ll pay for your meals for a month,” Sakura tries.

“With what money?” he asks, arching an eyebrow at them.

“We made enough from the last mission to cover it,” Sasuke replies, which is probably true.

Kakashi and Obito have been splitting the mission commissions between the five of them for several months, believing that the kids have earned the right to a (fairly) regular paycheck. It isn’t nearly as much as they would receive in Konoha, but more than enough to live off of.

Still, he doesn’t exactly approve of them wasting it on shit like this.

“Why do you three care so much?” he asks, finally setting the book aside. “It’s just Bakakashi. There’s really nothing special about him.”

Which isn’t exactly true, per se. Kakashi is handsome, _very_ handsome, and Obito happens to be supremely attracted to his face, but that doesn’t make him any less stupid.

“You’re saying that because you’ve seen his face!” Sakura argues.

“Yeah!” Naruto chimes in, pointing an accusing finger. “You’re just trying to throw us off our mission!”

Obito barely manages to fight down a smile. “Maybe,” he says. “But really, it’s just a face.”

“Then why does he keep it covered?” Naruto asks. “I think it’s because he has buck teeth!”

“Or a fish mouth!” Sakura chimes in.

“Or warts,” Sasuke adds.

Oh the mental images. Obito reminds himself that he is a dignified shinobi and he will not snicker like a schoolchild at the idea of Kakashi with massive teeth or a tiny mouth. And, knowing his shithead of a teammate, Kakashi has been actively encouraging this wild speculation. Which is why Obito decides to play along, too. Can’t let the baka have all the fun, right?

“Well, I always thought it was because of the horrifying scars, but who knows?”

The brats latch on to this like a dog after a bone. “Scars?”

Oh, look at them. So adorably naïve and earnest.

“Yeah,” he says, shrugging. “Got them when we were kids fighting in the war. Burns. Very nasty. He’s worn that stupid mask ever since, even though I tried to tell him they make him look badass.”

“Oh man,” Naruto moans. “Now I really wanna see!”

“Come on,” Sakura says, dragging the two boys off. “Obito-sensei isn’t going to help us. We need to plan.”

They disappear into the trees, chattering amongst themselves like the team they still won’t entirely acknowledge they are. Once they’re out of range, Kakashi drops down next to him, settling onto the bench.

“Scars, huh?”

Obito shrugs again. “Hey, I thought that was cooler than buck teeth or fish lips. For some reason, the brats refuse to believe that you’re completely boring under there.” He raps Kakashi’s cheek with his knuckles and Kakashi elbows him in the side for it.

“Maa, have to keep the mystery alive, I guess,” he mutters. “At least this keeps them out of trouble. For the most part.”

“Rin and I used to guess, too, you know,” Obito says, picking up his book again.

Kakashi tilts his head in a way that means he’s frowning. “Really?”

“Oh yeah. I’d never met someone so dedicated to covering his face - it made me curious.” Obito gives him a teasing smile. “Have to say I was disappointed when I finally got to look.”

Kakashi huffs at him. “You keep saying that and then sleeping with me. Such mixed signals, Obito.”

Obito shoves him. “Shut up, baka. You know I like your face.”

Kakashi’s visible eye goes soft and fond in a way he only allows Obito (and occasionally the brats) to see. “I know.”

“Speaking of which,” Obito waggles his eyebrows, purposefully over-exaggerated. “They won’t be back for awhile. Wanna make out or something?”

They haven’t had time to themselves in nearly a month and this is as close Obito will ever get to admitting that he’s been missing it.

Kakashi flicks him on the forehead, but his gaze is still affectionate. “Not when they’re probably lurking.” He leans forward, getting a wicked gleam in his eye that Obito will never say he loves. “Besides I have a better idea.”

Obito grins as Kakashi starts laying out a plan that involves multiple clones and henges and ultimately giving the brats a complete run-around.

Oh their poor students. Obito almost feels sorry for them.

Almost.

 

**dawn**

This is Kakashi’s favorite time of day: right when the sun is coming up and the whole world feels magical and new. He’s never been one for sentiment, but he’s learned, slowly, to appreciate the world around him. To take mornings like this one to sit at the top of a tree and watch the sun rise over the forest, painting the leaves gold.

To remind himself that he’s here and alive, waking up intact with the rest of the earth.

 

**nap**

“How long do you think we have?” Obito asks as he and Kakashi materialize in the Kamui dimension.

“Two hours?” Kakashi guesses. “Maybe three?”

“Oh thank god,” Obito mumbles and collapses to the ground, yanking Kakashi down with him. “Why are they so _exhausting?_ Why did we agree to this?”

“Because we’re idiots,” Kakashi says and winces as Obito flops around to use his stomach as a pillow. “And you’re heavy.”

“Well, you’re all bony,” Obito fires back.

“So trade places with me.”

Obito puts a hand over Kakashi's face. “Shh, we’re sleeping now. Before the terrors come back.”

“You sent them all the way to the village for supplies - we have time. And they won’t find us in here, anyways,” Kakashi says, stubbornly speaking in spite of Obito’s palm pressing against his mouth.

“ _Shhh._ ”

Fine, fine. Kakashi can take a hint. Besides, he’s desperate for a nap, too. Who knew that that the role of jounin-sensei could be so _difficult._ Granted, it’s only their third week - maybe things will get better - but he’s never been naturally optimistic.

“Shhh,” Obito says a third time. “You’re still thinking too loud. Go the fuck to sleep.”

Kakashi debates punching him, decides it isn’t worth the effort, and throws a hand over his eyes instead. He’s asleep moments later, so exhausted he’s pretty sure even an enemy attack wouldn’t be enough to wake him.

 

**season**

For Naruto, a year passes in a blur of seasons.

 _Spring:_ cherry blossoms in the trees of Hot Springs, the feel of the air warming in his lungs, the thrill of the unknown trilling down his spine.

 _Summer:_ baths in cold streams to escape the heat, laughter that makes his ribs ache as Sakura pushes Sasuke in without warning, the salt of sweat on his tongue.

 _Fall:_ color everywhere - in the forests, in the village markets, in the books Sakura and Kakashi trade. Like the whole world is going out with a bang.

 _Winter:_ snow beneath his boots, the air sharp in his lungs, the brilliance of blood against white ground, and dreams of loss that haunt his sleep.

 _Spring:_ cherry blossoms in the trees of River Country, the feel of the air warming in his lungs, the weight of precious people at his side and in his heart - like an anchor tethering him to the earth, keeping him strong.

 

**dare**

“This is stupid,” Sasuke points out.

“You scared, teme?” Naruto asks, smirking.

“Of course not, dobe. I’m just stating facts.”

“Whatever. Remember the bet?”

“ _Yes_. First one to the top of the waterfall wins. Loser does all the winner’s chores for a month.”

“And using the statues is cheating.”

“I _know._ ”

“Right, then let’s go!”

“Kakashi and Obito are going to kill us for this.”

“Eh, it’ll be worth it, though.”

Sasuke grins, sharp. The roar of the waterfall is like thunder in his ears. “Definitely.”

 

**treat**

Obito really needs to stop letting Naruto talk him into stopping for ramen. And _paying_ for said ramen. The brat has a paycheck of his own now, but he always manages to worm free food out of Obito. It’s probably the puppy-dog face. If Obito could have pulled a face like that at thirteen, he would have had the world at his feet.

“This is the last time I treat you,” he warns one day, trying to preserve at least some of his dignity as a stern and immovable teacher.

“Uh-huh,” Naruto says around a mouthful of noodles, sounding completely convinced. “Sure, sensei.”

Obito sighs and reaches for his wallet.

 

**regret**

Sometimes, when he can’t sleep at night, Sasuke thinks about ghosts. Shisui used to tell him stories about wandering spirits, unable to move on because of unfinished business - revenge or regret or even unfulfilled love. He would lie awake, convinced that he could hear their moaning and wailing in the corners of his room. Feel their freezing fingers on his face.

Sometimes, he still thinks that he can, but these ghosts are familiar: his parents or Shisui himself or even the Itachi-who-used-to-be - who was a brother and a son and free of any signs of madness. He wonders if they wander now. Are they trapped? Still tied to the earth?

“No,” Obito says on a night neither of them can sleep. “The dead are dead.”

But he doesn’t believe it - Sasuke can see it on his face. There are things that haunt him, too.

(He thinks one of them is called Rin.)

 

**strength**

Once again, for the second time in less than two years, they’re heading for the border of Fire Country. And once again, there is anxiety coiling in Kakashi’s stomach, making him close to nauseous. This time, they’re going to be entering Konoha itself. He’s going to be setting foot in Konoha, after thirteen years and …

He almost can’t fathom that.

Does it look any different? Will anyone remember him? Or try to kill him on the spot?  Is Gai still running around in green spandex, challenging people to fights? Did someone let him become a jounin?

It doesn’t matter, he tells himself. This isn’t about him. This is about giving their cute students a chance to prove themselves and thrash the competition in the Chūnin Exams (and he suspects it will be a _thorough_ thrashing). They’ve earned this opportunity - have trained and fought and bled for it - and he owes it to them to offer support every step of the way, until they don’t need him anymore.

That is, providing Sandaime even _lets_ them into Konoha. That’s still up in the air. And what if that happens? What if Team 7, also full of complicated emotions about Hidden Leaf, have to do this without either of their sensei? Without any kind of guidance at all? Will they -

“Oi.” An elbow in his side, jolting him from his thoughts. He turns to glare at Obito’s amused face. “Stop thinking,” Obito says. “You’re bad at it.”

“Maa, like you’re not terrified.”

“Of course I am,” Obito says with a roll of his eye. “I’m _petrified._ But they’re gonna do great. Better than great. We made them strong.”

“Pretty sure they did that on their own,” Kakashi counters, glancing down at their students - curled up in sleeping rolls at the base of the tree.  

“We definitely helped. Did you see the fucking disasters they were before we came along?”

“True.” Kakashi shifts into Obito’s side and Obito obligingly puts an arm around his waist. “But I’m still worried.”

“They’re going to be okay,” Obito says with a conviction he didn't’ have even six months ago. It’s like he’s stating an obvious fact. The sky is blue, water is wet, and Team 7 is going to be okay.

And he’s probably right. Either way, Kakashi’s so proud of the brats that some days it feels like his chest is in danger of bursting. That won’t change, even if they fail, because he knows they’ll give it their absolute all, no matter what’s thrown at them.

He should probably take a page from their book and face his own lingering fears. Stop letting Konoha haunt him. For now, he’ll let Obito believe for the both of them.

The sky is blue, water is wet, and Team 7 is going to be okay.

 

  _ **fin.**_

 


End file.
